


Griptide

by opalheart12



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Angst, Arguing, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2019-02-09 14:59:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12890382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalheart12/pseuds/opalheart12
Summary: Abbie Mills miraculously comes back to life when  Ichabod finds and rescues her from a frozen lake. With so much unsaid between them, will both of them take advantage of her second chance at life to love each other?Inspired by the song Griptide by Barbarossa.





	1. Chapter 1

_**Born to the ghosts** _  
_**That surround you son** _  
_**But,fortunately, you were born at all** _  
_**Into these heartache arms** _  
_**And into a warring world** _

_**-Griptide x Barbarossa** _

* * *

 

The day was ice cold but the sky was the most beautiful blue Ichabod had ever seen. The sun cast a watery glow across the icy grass in the park and a gust of wind caused him to pull his coat tighter around him.

He’d felt something in his soul that told him he needed to be here despite the fact that it was the dead of winter and no one was there. Winter in Sleepy Hollow tended to be quite brutal.

His attention was pulled to the side of the park where the lake was frozen over. He could see something in the distance near the edge, could hear an odd, loud thumping as if...as if something was trying to get out.

Without knowing how or why, his legs propelled him down the small hill toward the lake’s edge and he found himself scraping furiously at the ice. The noise only got lounder. He jammed his foot onto the thick sheet of ice, ignoring the pain that shot up into his leg as a result.

Finally, a spider web-like crack appeared and a dark hand shot up into the cold air. Crane felt his eyes widen as he reached for the hand, a hand he would recognize anywhere in the world.

After five minutes of scraping and punching his way through the ice, he held the shivering naked body of one Lieutenant Grace Abigail Mills in his arms. She sputtered for air and her curly hair clung to her forehead and face. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her before racing to the SUV he’d taken up after her disappearance.

She continued to shiver, unable to speak, as the heat blasted through the car on the way to Tarrytown General Hospital. Surely she would need medical attention, Crane thought. There was no telling how she’d ended up in the icy lake or how long she’d been there.

He called Irving and Jenny and Joe, the latter of which was still recovering months later from his near death encounter during the ordeal with Pandora, and informed them that somehow, some way, Abbie Mills had returned them.

Jenny arrived at the hospital in record time, her car still running in the parking lot. Her eyes were red rimmed as she attempted to open the passenger door on Crane’s SUV to get to Abbie. Joe lagged behind for fear of losing his breath. His injury still aggravated his breathing and heart from time to time. Frank Irving would not arrive until later that night as he’d boarded a plane in Phoenix to come back to Sleepy Hollow.

Moments later, Crane was carrying Abbie’s now unconscious form into the deserted emergency room where, at once, she was taken to the back. Crane could not go back with her, but Jenny promised she would find a way to get him back there too.

In the meantime, it was just he and Joe in the waiting room, both equally nervous and worried though for different reasons. Crane allowed his eyes to rove over his brother-in-arms as it were, noticing his hand was still on his chest as he tried to slow his breathing. This was the most physical activity Joe had done in a few months.

“How is she back?” Joe panted slightly. “I don’t understand.”

“Nor do I, Master Corbin. But I believe the saying about looking gift horses in their mouths is valid here.” Crane replied as he leaned forward, eyes searching the back area of the emergency room as if he could see through the walls.

“Hypothermia,” Jenny breathed out nearly an hour later when she came back to the waiting room. She looked as if she’d only just finished crying though her watery eyes suggested she was not done just yet. “She has hypothermia.”

Crane stood at once, fingers fidgeting against his side quite furiously. “I must see her at once.”

“Not yet. Not until they admit her. She isn’t even awake yet, Crane.” Jenny sounded distressed and began to pace the length of the waiting room.

Joe watched her for a few moments before hauling himself up and pulling her into his arms. She began to cry again as Joe cradled her and Crane felt his heart break into pieces.

He gave the two space, walking to the other end of the waiting room, as his mind continued to drift toward his Lieutenant. How had she been returned to him? Surely her very soul had been extinguished when she entered that box. His mind wandered to the lake and how very cold the water had been when he pulled her out. How on earth had she ended up there? There were many questions and not nearly enough answers.

After a time, his thoughts brought him to the inevitable question: what if it was a trick? What if it wasn’t really Abbie at all? His heart shattered twice over at the thought. He needed it to be her.

The time felt as if it was crawling by as they waited. There was no real way of knowing what time it was: the lighting was so disgustingly bright and there were no windows. Minutes felt like hours and hours like days. Crane could feel himself growing mad.

He looked over and saw Jenny asleep in Joe’s lap. Even at rest the sadness was evident on her face. Her hands were pulled up to her chin, almost as if she’d fallen asleep praying.

“Are you the family of Abbie Mills?” A voice asked. Jenny was awake and standing in less than a second and Crane joined her, fingers moving a mile a minute.

The doctor who’d come out to them was an older woman who appeared to be of some East Asian descent. Her eyes were a light hazel color and her her graying dark brown hair was pulled back into one braid. The laminated name tag clipped to her left breast pocket read: Dr. Emily Toshiro. Her presence was reassuring, for though she appeared to be worried she did not bear that grave expression many doctors did when there was bad news to deliver.

“Yes.” Jenny responded, moving closer to the doctor. “Is she okay?”

“She will be in good time. As you know, she is recovering from hypothermia. The biggest concern we have is getting her warm and functional again. We have no way of knowing how long she was in the water so any information any of you have would be incredibly helpful in that regard.” Her voice was level and calm, and Ichabod felt his worry dwindle only slightly.

“He found her in the lake. We don’t know how she even got there because we thought---” Jenny stopped herself and Dr. Toshiro cast a strange glance in her direction. “We haven’t seen or heard from her in months.”

Dr. Toshiro appeared to have felt the need to ask more but decided against it. “At any rate, we will need to keep her here for further observation. For now, we’re rewarming her airways with humidified oxygen and giving her warm saline through an IV. That, with the heated blankets, should be enough to get her back to normal. But we will need to monitor her over the next twenty four hours.”

Ichabod knew he would stay with Abbie as long as he needed to. She was back and he would not give her up this time. He would not be so afraid to tell her his true feelings for her, even if he had realized them much too late.

That night, Jenny fell asleep at Abbie’s side, her body awkwardly positioned so that it was half in the hard wooden chair and half in the bed. He practically mirrored her position on Abbie’s other side. Joe had fallen asleep stretched out across the horrible excuse for a couch in the corner of the room. Ichabod was awakened by a low groan. He shot up in an instant and saw Abbie blinking her eyes open very slowly. She moved her hand to her forehead and groaned again as if she had a headache.

“Why am I in the hospital?” she asked, her voice scratchy still.

Jenny woke up then, tired but frantic. “Ohmygod,” she gasped as she practically crushed Abbie in a tight hug. “We thought you were…” She trailed off as her eyes filled with tears.

Abbie pulled back a bit and gave her a small smile. “I’m here now.”

“But how?” Ichabod blurted out, his chest fluttering as Abbie finally turned her attention to him.

“I was there and then I wasn’t.” Abbie’s voice was sharp and curt. He felt his lips purse into a straight line.

“I take it this is not something you wish to discuss.” Ichabod stated awkwardly.

Abbie glared at him and he suddenly felt very small. “Yeah, I’m not too keen on talking about how I jumped in a box and became nonexistent and suddenly came back into reality through a frozen lake. It’s a bit of a sore spot.”

He flinched and stood, looking for a moment as if he were confused. “My apologies, Miss Mills. I shall take my leave at once. I wish you a swift recovery.”

Jenny looked between them both and started tugging at her bottom lip. It was clear that Abbie was pissed at Crane for something, but she wasn’t sure what. It could easily have been the fact that after mysteriously coming back to life she nearly died from drowning or hypothermia. She watched as Crane gave the two of them a short bow before collecting his coat and leaving the room.

“Yikes.” Jenny breathed out.

“What a jackass.” Abbie muttered before pulling the blankets up to her neck. She suddenly felt very tired but she wanted to talk to Jenny. It had been so long.

“Can we agree that sacrificing yourself by jumping into some crazy lady’s box is a horrible idea?” Jenny asked, a small smile forming on her face.

Abbie let out a slightly hoarse laugh. “Agreed.”

Joe woke up and yawned loudly before looking over at the two of them. “Woah! Welcome back, Abs.” He got up and came around to hug her tightly.

Abbie felt warmth surging through her as she reveled in the feeling of being alive again. But it stopped short. She couldn’t stop thinking about Crane and the weirdness between them.

A part of her hated him for a reason she couldn’t quite articulate just yet and another part of her wanted to crawl under a rock and die. Again. At least when she jumped into the box she didn’t have to concern herself with this kind of shit. She’d nearly forgotten everything and everyone. But, thankfully, she hadn’t.

The one thing she knew was that she didn’t think things could ever be right between her and Crane again.


	2. Chapter 2

_**It will all fall away** _   
_**To the oceans below** _

_**But I'm going to hold you now** _   
_**I'm going to hold you now** _   
_**I'm going to hold you now** _   
_**In the grip of the riptide** _

_**-Griptide x Barbarossa** _

* * *

 

His hands were all manner of reds, purples, and blues. His ankle was a bit sprained, for which he currently had an ice pack on it to keep down swelling. He tried not to hiss as he put antibiotic gel on his cuts and wrapped his hands in bandages.

All of that to retrieve the Lieutenant from the lake, and she wanted nothing to do with him.

“Well, I can hardly blame her.” He muttered to himself as he set about making breakfast in the kitchen. As far as he knew, Jenny staed with Abbie overnight in the hospital which eased his mind a bit.

Crane found himself thinking about how his life had changed since Abbie had come into his life, how many times she’d given so much for him. Maybe she was upset with him for not stopping her from jumping into the box.

“That must be it.” He flipped the bacon over and turned up the flame so it could be crispier.

After breakfast he decided it might be best to thoroughly clean the house. If Abbie was indeed coming back to the house they’d shared then he wanted it to be immaculate.

Crane changed all the lightbulbs in the house, scrubbed it from top to bottom, and even chopped some firewood before lunch. After warming up more bacon and toast, Crane returned to his duties and soon the house was so clean it looked practically staged. He’d washed all of Abbie’s clothes after retrieving them from boxes in the basement and placed them back in her room as he’d remembered them.

Around 8pm he heard keys in the door and rushed downstairs to see Jenny holding the door open for Abbie. Joe was still outside in Jenny’s car, more than likely keeping it running in the cold night.

“Hey,” Jenny said as she closed the front door. “Abbie got discharged. She should be fine now but definitely needs to avoid frozen lakes if at all possible.” She gave an awkward laugh as Abbie went into the living room before turning her attention back to Crane again.

“Is she still angry with me, Ms. Jenny?” Crane asked quietly, his fingers fidgeting wildly against his thigh.

Jenny shrugged. “Hard to say. But you guys definitely need to talk. Call me if you need me. I’ll be up for a while.” She hugged him and left, the sound of the door shutting echoing loudly in the entryway.

He stood there for a while wringing his hands before taking a deep breath and going into the living room. Abbie was sitting in front of the fireplace, staring intently into the flames Crane had started shortly before she arrived.

“Miss Mills,” he began after clearing his throat. “May I interest you in some dinner?”

She turned around with an unreadable expression on her face, searching his face for something unknown. Then, “I’d like that.”

Her voice was low and soft and she offered him a seedling of a smile before turning to face the flames again.

Now was the hard part. What could he cook for her? It was positively freezing outside if the snow was anything to go by. He was betting after her ordeal in the lake that she wouldn’t want anything cold. He opened the freezer and his eyes wandered over to a frozen lasagna he’d been waiting to cook.

“No time like the present.” Crane said before heating the stove. While he waited for that he hunted around for the bottle of Riesling that Joe had given him the previous ear for Christmas. Another wine would have been preferred but Crane could do perfectly fine with what he had. The lasagna was going to take nearly an hour to bake.

“Miss Mills,” he breathed out when he got back to the living room. “Dinner will take some time so I have taken the liberty of running you a bath. Take all the time you need.”

Abbie stood and stretched slightly. “Thanks, Crane.” She walked up to him and wrapped her tiny arms around his frane. “I’m sorry about yesterday. I was...I was angry.”

Crane pulled himself away for a moment and guided her face so that she was looking up at him. “There is nothing to apologize for.”

Abbie didn’t seem entirely sold on that but she went upstairs to the bathroom anyway. When she got up there she realized none of the lights were on. Instead, Crane lit candles all around the room and she could see steam rising from the tub. He’d left some of her favorite body washes, oils, and lotions on the side of the tub for her. She couldn’t help but smile as she poured coconut lavender oil into the water.

An involuntary hiss escaped her as she eased her way into the scalding hot water. She leaned back against the wall and sighed as she allowed the feeling of warmth to consume her. The scent of the oil she’d put in had her mind melting in the most pleasant way.

She hadn’t realized how much she missed being alive.

And how much she missed Crane.

She felt tears come to her eyes as she remembered how she’d so selflessly given her life for his on so many occasions, how hopeless and empty she’d felt when she jumped into the box. What else did the world need from her? She’d given everything she could and for what? To be alone, stuck hopelessly in love with a man who would never see her the way she saw him? To feel like the world would hardly be lacking if she were gone forever?

God, she wanted to scream as the tears poured out of her. The man she loved was downstairs and there was nothing stopping the two of them from becoming something more. Nothing except the fact that she wasn’t sure he would love her as much as she did him or give as much as she did to him.

A knock on the door startled her and she sniffed loudly as Crane’s voice floated through the door. “Is everything alright, Miss Mills?”

She thought about lying, thought about burying her feelings as she always had. But she had come back. She had a second chance now. Things were different. “No.” Her voice came out as a croak and the door creaked softly as Crane stepped in.

Abbie pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Crane looked at her and promptly looked up at the ceiling.

“My apologies. I had no idea that—“

“You can look at me, Crane. It's okay.”

She watched as his eyes traveled down, though he looked at some point behind her to a spot of tiles on the wall. She could have laughed then but, instead, she sighed.

“Come here.” She breathed out, leaning over the edge of the tub. There was steam rising from her skin and the smell of coconut lavender had enveloped her.

Crane knelt down, still staring at some point beyond her. “Miss Mills, I hardly think it honorable that I see you in this way.”

She used a watery hand to grip his chin softly and guide his face to hers. “But I want you to.”

Crane’s breath hitched and he felt like he could barely remember what it was like to breathe. He stared into her eyes, lost in endless shades of brown and gold. “What do you want from me?” He asked, the question coming in the form of a tortured whisper.

She sat up so that she was sitting back on her legs though still leaning forward. In all of that, she had somehow managed to pull Crane closer to her. “When I jumped into Pandora’s box, I did it feeling like there was no point to me living anymore. You didn’t care about me as much as I did you, and I was tired of always saving you and it never being matched. But even through all that I did it without hesitation because for some twisted reason I thought you deserved life and I didn’t.”

Crane felt his stomach drop to his feet and his mouth go dry. He wasn’t sure how, but he managed to speak.

“There are not enough apologies, Lieutenant. There is nothing I could say to make up for the past. Instead, I offer you a promise for the future,” he said, pulling one hand up to move a strand of hair behind her ear. “I will give more for you, Abbie. I will protect you more. I will love you more. I will take the weight from your shoulders without hesitation. I hardly deserve to be alive but you, treasure? You deserve the world and every beautiful thing it contains.”

Abbie felt tears come to her eyes again and felt a lump in her throat that refused to go down no matter how much she tried to force it to. She sat back against the wall of the tub, her hands pulling away from Crane to wrap around her knees as she hugged them to her chest once more. She felt the words rising in her throat, words she’d been dying to say since the moment they met. “I love you, Ichabod Crane.”

Her words echoed off the bathroom walls and filled Crane with an indescribable buzzing. His fingers had gone still now as if his very being were now paralyzed. Without thinking, without rambling as he usually did, he leaned forward over the short wall of the toilet and kissed her.

She felt shock and then unending warmth spread through her as she kissed him deeper. This had been what she wanted. Her hands rose to pull him closer to her until she’d practically pulled him into the tub.

He pulled away for a moment, a smile on his face. “Are you trying to tell me something, my love?”

She kissed him again before speaking. “I want to be close to you.”

He kissed her forehead. “I’m sure that can be arranged. But I must make certain your dinner is perfect.” Crane stood and smiled before leaving the bathroom.

Abbie let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding in. He loved her. That thought alone made her feel as if a weight had been taken away from her.

She finished her bath and washed her hair quickly before blowing out all of the candles. When she came downstairs, she was wearing one of the many long sleeved t-shirts she’d gotten for Crane and thick socks to combat the cold floors. He was carefully cutting a slice of lasagna and placing it on a small plate.

“Smells good, Crane.”

Her voice startled him and he nearly dropped the plate. He quickly regained his composure and poured some of the wine into a glass before setting both on the small dining table and joined her with a plate of his own.

They ate in comfortable silence and drank their wine. Abbie was more content than she had been in a very long time. Crane had a vague smile on his face and his fingers were still for once.

When they were done they sat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Crane opened his arms, inviting Abbie to come and be safe inside them. She stared at him for a while before accepting and placing her head on his chest.

The feeling of his arms around her was indescribable. She could hardly remember the last time she had felt safe with someone. He kissed her forehead and nuzzled her hair.

“We’ll be different this time around,” she said. “We’ll be one.”

Crane sighed pulled her closer. “Yes,” he breathed out. “We shall never be pulled from one another again.”


End file.
